The partnership also includes a Disney-focused digital experience on Target.com. Additionally, a new Target store will open at Flamingo Crossings Town Center at the western entrance of the Walt Disney World Resort in 2021.

To Bob Chapek, chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, and former head of home entertainment, the retail collaboration combines two companies’ focus on families at the retail level.

“Disney and Target share a common vision to provide our guests and consumers with innovative and unique experiences, and high quality product,” Chapek said in a statement.

Brian Cornell, CEO at Target, said the companies’ combined omni-channel retail platform would create “inspiring and unique” experiences for consumers.

“This collaboration reflects the strength of our platforms and assets to create value for guests and growth for both companies beyond the traditional retail model,” he said.

The branded stores will showcase specialty merchandise from Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars, in addition to featuring clips of movies available theatrically and in home entertainment.

Target remains one of the largest retailers of packaged media entertainment.

The launch will include a new assortment of merchandise from Disney’s Frozen 2 and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Additional locations will be added to more Target stores over the next year to expand the Disney store retail footprint.

The Disney stores will be Target-operated, branded “shop-in-shop” with an average of 750 square feet, strategically located inside Target stores adjacent to kids clothing and toys, replicated online at Target.com/Disneystore and on the Target app.

The “shop-in-shop” will feature an enhanced Disney assortment of more than 450 items, including more than 100 products that were previously only available at Disney retail locations.

Consumers will be able to browse and shop a variety of Disney Princess, Star Wars, Marvel, Disney Junior characters, classic Disney plush, apparel, home and holiday-specific products.

They’ll also be able to access collectible merchandise, including the Disney Animators’ Collection with dolls, clothing and accessories. Items will range in price from $2 to $200, with many items under $20.

Disney store at Target promises an engaging shopping experience with music, interactive displays, photo opportunities and a seating area where families can relax and watch Disney movie clips and Park events.

Consumers will be able to take advantage of all of the benefits of shopping at Target when they purchase items from Disney store at Target, whether online or in stores.

Target consumers can purchase Disney products with 5% off using their Target REDcard and can take advantage of convenient pickup and delivery options, including same-day pickup, same-day delivery and free two-day shipping.

Disney store at Target will open in October in the following 25 Target stores:

The 22nd film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe concludes the first “Avengers” saga that has spanned 11 years, beginning with 2008’s Iron Man. The film, in which the Avengers take one final stand against Thanos, has earned $834.9 at the domestic box office. Its $2.75 billion worldwide box office tally is the highest-ever for a film in its initial theatrical run (without a re-release).

Bonus features include a tribute to Stan Lee; the tale of Robert Downey Jr.’s casting as Iron Man; the evolution of Captain America; Black Widow’s dramatic story arc; directors Anthony and Joe Russo’s experience at the helm of both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame; the making of an epic battle scene with the women of the MCU; the creation of Bro Thor; deleted scenes; a gag reel and more.

Less than two weeks from the premiere of its third season, Netflix’s “Stranger Things” returned to the No. 1 spot on Parrot Analytics’ digital originals rankings the week ended June 22.

The show’s latest surge is undoubtedly due to the June 20 release of the season’s final trailer, which drew more than 9 million views on Netflix’s YouTube channel alone.

“Stranger Things” registered 84 million average daily Demand Expressions, the proprietary metric used by Parrot Analytics to measure global demand for TV content. According to Parrot, “Stranger Things” grew 33.6% in expressions compared with the previous week, when it ranked second with 62.9 million.

Netflix’s “Black Mirror,” which was No. 1 the previous week after the premiere of its fifth season, saw a 25.5% drop in expressions to 66.4 million, slipping to No. 2.

Netflix’s “When They See Us,” the controversial miniseries about the Central Park Five that was created, co-written, and directed by Ava DuVernay, stayed at No. 3, though its Demand Expressions dropped 18.7% to 41.8 million.

Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” jumped up a spot to No. 4, though its demand expressions dropped 1% to 41.6 million.

Rounding out the top five on the digital originals chart was Netflix’s “Lucifer,” down a spot from No. 4 the previous week. The series, based on a character from the DC Comics comic-book series “The Sandman,” dropped 8.4% in expressions to 43.3 million.

Marvel’s “Jessica Jones” jumped back onto the top 10 chart at No. 7, from No. 19 the previous week, with a 92.9% increase in expressions to 30.2 million. The third and final season of the show debuted on June 14 on Netflix, representing the end of Marvel’s contribution to the streaming service.

A “digital original” is a multi-episode series in which the most recent season was first made available on a streaming platform such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video or Hulu.

Media Play News has teamed with Parrot Analytics to provide readers with a weekly top 10 of the most popular digital original TV series in the United States, based on the firm’s proprietary metric called Demand Expressions, which measures global demand for TV content through a wide variety of data sources, including video streaming, social media activity, photo sharing, blogging, commenting on fan and critic rating platforms, and downloading and streaming via peer-to-peer protocols and file sharing sites.

FandangoNow has seen a spike in sales for all 20 Marvel cinematic universe titles since the theatrical bow of Avengers: Endgame, with all appearing among its top 100 films, according to the service.

FandangoNow is movie site Fandango’s transactional VOD platform.

The site also reported a surge in preorders and first-day sales for Captain Marvel, hitting home this week. The female-driven superhero film is pacing similarly to Marvel’s Black Panther, one of FandangoNow’s most purchased titles of all time, according to the service.

“Captain Marvel is one of the year’s most entertaining films, and one of the most talked-about Marvel movies ever,” said FandangoNow managing editor Erik Davis in a statement. “It’s clear fans want to see lots more of Brie Larson’s high-flying superhero, and are excited to watch all the bonus content, deleted scenes and outtakes, especially after seeing her in Avengers: Endgame.”

According to a FandangoNow survey of fans planning to watch Captain Marvel at home, 91% are excited to revisit Captain Marvel’s origin story at home after seeing her on the big screen in Avengers: Endgame, while 60% plan to watch Captain Marvel at home before they head to the theater to see the MCU’s next chapter, Spider-Man: Far from Home.

Captain Marvel will fly to digital in HD and 4K Ultra HD (including Movies Anywhere) May 28, and land on Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray June 11 from Disney, Direct to Consumer and International.

The home release dates were revealed during the May 8 espnW Summit NYC, at which Marvel Studios hosted a Captain Marvel panel.

The film, which has surpassed $1 billion at the box office worldwide, chronicles the origin story of the female superhero.

The release includes featurettes that highlight the transformative journey of Brie Larson (Captain Marvel) and her character’s impact on audiences around the globe; the influence of Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) on significant events within the Marvel Cinematic Universe; the pairing of directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck; the ongoing conflict between the Skrulls and the Kree; and the talent behind the feline named Goose. Viewers also gain access to six deleted scenes, director commentary, a gag reel, and never-before-seen concept art and production photography.

The digital release includes two exclusive features, including a behind-the-scenes visit with the visual effects team and an inside look at the team effort that goes into an action sequence in a Marvel Studios film.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order is heading exclusively to the Nintendo Switch video game system, Nintendo announced.

Nintendo made the announcement with a trailer shown during The Game Awards in Los Angeles.

The game brings together superheroes and villains from across the Marvel Universe to battle for the limitless power of the Infinity Gauntlet, one Stone at a time. The team of characters must use their superpowers to defeat the mad cosmic tyrant Thanos and his ruthless warmasters, The Black Order. The game will feature an original story and a playable cast of dozens of Marvel superheroes, including the Avengers, the X-Men, and — for the first time in series history — the Guardians of the Galaxy, according to the Nintendo release.

Up to four players can drop in for co-op battles in a variety of ways: They can play online (through a Nintendo account), link up offline via local wireless or pass a Joy-Con controller to a friend to join the team, according to Nintendo. With another pair of Joy-Con (sold separately), four players can team up on one system. In addition to the series’ traditional perspective, the new entry will let players select a dynamic, zoomed-in heroic view, allowing for a more immersive play style for single-player or multiplayer when using multiple systems.

“As longtime fans of the franchise, we could not be prouder and more excited to bring back Ultimate Alliance with its biggest game yet,” said Mike Jones, VP and executive producer, Marvel Games, in a statement. “Marvel Ultimate Alliance is all about teaming up with your friends and creating your own ‘dream team’ of superheroes to go on adventures across the Marvel Universe, and Nintendo Switch is perfect for delivering on that promise of cooperative gameplay and shared experiences.”

“The Marvel Ultimate Alliance games have been beloved by fans for more than a decade, and this new installment on Nintendo Switch will deliver even more of the thrills and heroics that the franchise is known for,” said Doug Bowser, Nintendo of America’s SVP of sales and marketing, in a statement. “Thanks to our partnership with Marvel, the fate of the Marvel Universe will literally be in the hands of Nintendo Switch players, whether they’re at home or on the go.”

Additional details about the game will be announced in the future, according to Nintendo.

Disney may be leaving Netflix, but not without a parting Christmas gift.

The Disney/Marvel blockbuster Avengers: Infinity War, which has earned more than $678.8 million at the box office, will come out on the streaming platform on Christmas day, according to Netflix.

The streaming platform’s NX on Netflix Twitter account tweeted, “Oh, snap. Avengers: Infinity War is coming to @Netflix on December 25.”

Disney is readying the unveiling of its own streaming service in 2019, Disney+, which will be fueled by Disney content, including that from Marvel and Lucasfilm, which has the “Star Wars” franchise.

After helping grow Netflix with a streaming deal in 2012, The Walt Disney Co. in 2017 announced it would be withdrawing its content from the service to build its own subscription platform.

At a May 14, 2018, MoffettNathanson Media & Communications Summit in New York, Netflix CCO Ted Sarandos was asked about the impact of Disney going direct-to-consumer and the pending loss of its original movies.

“People always ask me, ‘Where you surprised Disney is going to go direct?’ I don’t know what took them so long, exactly,” said Sarandos.

Still, he said the loss of Disney content wasn’t much of a blow.

“[Our subs] watch [Disney movies], but it wasn’t particularly passionate watching and those films are widely available on a bunch of other channels,” Sarandos said.

With the Walt Disney Co. planning to launch a branded over-the-top video platform in late 2019, the SVOD service, along with digital platform ESPN+ and majority ownership of Hulu will dominate the company’s objectives in the coming year, according to CEO Bob Iger.

Speaking Aug. 7 on the fiscal call, Iger said OTT video is a reality and here to stay. He said the pending Disney services would focus on incorporating core brands, including Marvel, Star Wars and Pixar, in an effort to complement, and to a lesser extent, compete with SVOD platforms such as Netflix, which is spending $8 billion this year alone on original content.

“The launch of [direct-to-consumer] product at the end of 2019 is the biggest priority of the company during calendar 2019,” said Iger, adding that the service would initially target core Disney fans.

“There will be significant amounts of support given across all of our assets to see to it that the platform launches successfully,” he said.

The service/app will feature original branded series and movies, including the first-ever live-action “Star Wars” series, and new episodes of the “Star Wars: Code Wars” animated series; a live-action version of The Lady and the Tramp, in addition to other new series based on popular Disney properties.

“The [20th Century Fox Film] acquisition brings even more opportunity to create original programming for this platform,” said Iger, who added Disney plans on walking before running with the new service.

“It’s takes time to build the kind of content library [for the service that] ultimately we intend to build,” he said. “Because the app will feature Pixar, Disney, Marvel, National Geographic, Lucasfilm and Star Wars, we feel that it doesn’t have to have anything close to the volume of what Netflix has.”

“This gives us the ability to not necessarily be in the volume game, but be in the quality game,” said Iger. “It’s not as though the cupboard’s going to bare.”

Iger said the recently launched ESPN+, pending family-oriented Disney service along with the existing Hulu platform appeal to different consumer tastes and audience demographics.

“As we look at the environment today … we don’t want to go to market with an aggregation play that replicates the multichannel [TV bundle] environment, because we feel consumers are more interested in making [channel] decisions on their own,” said Iger. “We can offer that kind of flexibility to consumers because that’s … what consumer behavior demands.”

The CEO reiterated that the Disney OTT service would be priced lower than Netflix to reflect the difference in content offerings. He said that upon closing the Fox acquisition, Hulu would “also fit into our app strategy.”

Fox and Walmart’s Vudu showed off “Deadpool’s Dream Suite” before awarding a lucky fan of the July 18-22 San Diego Comic-Con International a chance to stay there on the Saturday evening of the convention.

The location was converted from the most-expensive suite at the Hard Rock Hotel in downtown San Diego across the street from the convention center, and decorated to look like the apartment shared by Deadpool and Blind Al in the “Deadpool” movies. The design team loaded the room with special artwork, Deadpool 2 posters and many subtle nods to the films (but, alas, there was nothing buried under the floorboards).

After Comic-Con, Vudu will host a giveaway of select loot from the suite, with signups at the sweepstakes site beginning July 20.

Deadpool 2 will be available through digital retailers Aug. 7 and on Blu-ray, DVD and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Aug. 21 from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.

Just in time for the theatrical debut of Deadpool 2 May 18, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released a Deadpool: 2-Year Anniversary Edition Blu-ray April 24, featuring all-new packaging and an assortment of limited edition collectibles, including stickers, car decals, temporary tattoos and a set of paper dolls.

In addition to the extras with the national release, Best Buy will offer an exclusive 4K UHD Steelbook with new cover art and exclusive patches.

Also, May 15 at Walmart, Deadpool will photobomb the cover art of a collection of Blu-ray films, including Edward Scissorhands, Logan, War for the Planet of the Apes, Predator and Revenge of the Nerds.

Select Blu-ray titles at both Walmart and Best Buy will also include Fandango Movie Money, a coupon that can be applied toward the purchase of tickets to see Deadpool 2 in theaters. The Movie Money program runs through June 28.

Bonus materials on the Deadpool: 2-Year Anniversary Edition Blu-ray are the same as the original home media release from two years ago, and include deleted/extended scenes with optional audio commentary by director Tim Miller; a gag reel; “Deadpool’s Fun Sack”; audio commentary with Miller and Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeld; audio commentary with Ryan Reynolds and writers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese; “From Comics to Screen…to Screen”; and galleries of concept art, storyboards, costumes, pre-vis and stunt-vis.